


A March Family Christmas

by KathsAvery



Category: Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Christmas, Family, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 16:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KathsAvery/pseuds/KathsAvery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The March Family gathers for a very special Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A March Family Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chiana606](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiana606/gifts).



Jo smiled to herself as she fixed evergreen branches on the small piano in the corner. Its ivory keys  
were yellowed with age, but careful tuning kept its tone sweet and true through the years. Bess played  
it when she came to visit, and tonight the house would ring with merry caroling after the joyous  
wedding march.

Christmastime had come to Plumfield, and this year the blessings had been doubled, for Meg had  
agreed to let Nat care for her Daisy and Daisy for him, for all the rest of their lives. Christmas day was  
the appointed day for the wedding. Jo carefully tucked white paper flowers into the evergreen that she,  
Nan, Amy, Bess, Meg and Josie had folded while talking over old times and Christmases past. Some  
of the little flowers looked almost lifelike – the work of artistic fingers. Others, made by hands less  
nimble but no less loving had oddly-shaped petals and forms never seen in nature.

How long ago it was that Jo had draped branches on this very piano for Beth on the Christmas that  
Father had come home from the war. How happy Beth would have been, she thought, to see Daisy's  
bright and cheerful smile today, to make the little piano sing Daisy and Nat to their place at each other's  
side, to hear the wedding vows spoken. And later, to take a turn with Laurie and Bess, playing carols. A  
tear dropped onto the carefully polished wood, and Jo smudged it away absently. Well, Beth would be  
smiling down on them all today. Her sweet spirit hovered around the piano and in Jo's heart.

***

Upstairs in a room that used to rumble with the sound of young men's feet, Daisy stood in her new first  
best dress. As her mother had all those years ago, she had chosen to dress simply. She admired herself  
in the mirror as Nan bustled around her, tucking in a stray curl and arranging the flowers in Daisy's  
hair. Daisy's gaze drifted over to the little stove in the corner of the room.

"Do you remember, Nan, how we learned to cook on that little stove? The messes we would make!"  
Daisy laughed.

"The messes the boys would make, you mean," Nan replied. "Oh, but how they would fight over what  
they could make. Remember the time Tommy set your very best pan on fire?"

"How I scolded him!" Daisy smiled. "It's a mercy we got through our childhoods without being roasted  
to death by Tommy – he did have such a liking for fire."

"There," Nan said. "You look perfect, just as a bride should."

"Oh, Nan..." Daisy looked from the mirror to the friend of her girlhood, whose strength and  
commitment to her calling Daisy had long admired, despite wishing for her also the love of a family.  
Nan, who never missed the duties of a wife but kept happy by being useful to all humankind, embraced  
the soon-to-be Mrs. Blake.

"I mustn't crush up your dress," Nan laughed. "And keep those tears at bay or else your eyes will turn  
up red, and I'll have to fetch you some drops."

"Dear, no thank you," Daisy smiled, hastily wiping an errant tear away with a handkerchief. "I don't  
know what I could be crying about, I'm so happy today. But it seems all of our childhood hangs around  
this room, doesn't it?"

There was a knock at the door, then. "Nan, dear, can you give Daisy and me a moment?" Meg asked.

Nan dropped a quick kiss onto the bride's cheek and bustled out to join the others downstairs.

Meg stood before Daisy and marveled at the young woman she had raised. Tears glistened in her  
eyes as she thought about the day, not so long ago it seemed, when she herself had married her  
John. "I hoped that you would wear these today," she said, handing Daisy a nosegay of Lilies of the  
Valley. "They were your father's favorite. I wore them myself on our day."

"Of course – I would be honored," said Daisy, as she hugged her mother and turned to the looking glass  
to rearrange the flowers Nan had tucked into her curls. Meg settled the flowers into Daisy's hair and  
pinned some in a corsage on her dress. "The last touch," said Daisy.

They stood together, looking in the mirror. "I hope you will be happy, dear," Meg said.

Daisy turned to face her mother and took her hands gently in her own. "I know you don't think much  
of Nat, despite his accomplishments," she said. "But Uncle Laurie believes he will be a great teacher  
of music, in addition to his place with the orchestra. What he lacks in his own music, he can find in the  
music of his young pupils and draw it out of them. He will never be famous, but he will be useful and  
purposeful, and that is more important than fame or fortune, isn't it, Mama?"

Meg kissed Daisy's forehead. "Your words are wise, little daughter, but a mother always worries.  
You'll find that out yourself, one day."

***

Downstairs Nat was helping John – who he still thought of as "Demi" – set the table for Christmas  
dinner. Nat and Demi were moving in in unison around the table placing the silverware.

Demi broke the silence. "I am glad that you have received such a good position with the orchestra and  
conservatory. You will be able to provide well for Daisy and yourself, though it's not the fame and  
fortune you planned on."

"Yes," Nat agreed. "But we'll have enough and then some, if I'm careful and wise – and I plan to be.  
I've got the house, now, and Daisy shall make it a home for us."

"I'll keep a sharp eye to her happiness," said John, half-jokingly, thinking of his own beloved  
wife. "But I know I shall be proud to call you brother after today."

As Nat was about to reply, Laurie walked into the room. "There you are! Nat, you might very well be  
late for your own wedding! What are you doing, mucking about in here still?"

"Well, we wanted to stay busy, and this is what Asia always told us to do after catching us stealing  
cookies," said Demi, smiling. "And Nat needed something to do to calm his nerves."

"Off you go, my boy," Laurie said, grandly, with a push to Nat's slight shoulders as Nat let himself be  
propelled, grinning, in the direction of the parlor, where the wedding bower awaited. "Your destiny  
awaits you."

***

Everyone was assembled in the parlor as Nat took his place next to Reverend March, who could not  
look cross on this day, even if he was losing a grand daughter. To Nat's nervous gaze, he looked  
solemn and grand, yet his eyes twinkled kindly at Nat. Nat's old shyness crept back for a moment, to  
have everyone's attention focused on him. Jo caught his eye and gave him a great wink, which settled  
him. Then, the parlor doors opened, and the piano struck up the old familiar, radiant notes that signaled  
imminent matrimony.

All eyes were on Daisy and her mother as they came to the bottom of the stairs and turned into the  
room. As they walked down to Nat, Daisy and Meg stopped and looked longingly at the bust that  
Amy had made of John Brooke, and at the portrait of dear Marmee, which had been moved near to it.  
With tears in her eyes, despite Nan's warnings and threats of drops, and with a smile that could light  
a thousand homes, Daisy kissed her mother and took her place beside Nat. The two joined hands, and  
Nat's sweet, wistful gaze met Daisy's earnest one, and even before the vows began, they pledged with  
their eyes and hearts to face the world together, in all their imperfections.

The ceremony was much like the one that Rev March had performed so many years ago for Meg and  
John, simple and somber, and if his voice was sometimes unsteady, it appeared to go unnoticed. Then,  
as the final words were pronounced, there was a flurry of much hugging and kissing the bride, and  
handshakes and backslapping for the groom, and the family trooped out of the parlor to sit down for a  
wedding breakfast/Christmas dinner.

Asia and Jo had outdone themselves this year. The turkey was huge and the pies were plentiful.  
Everyone's favorites were there including some German dishes that caused Jo some tears. Everyone  
had little gifts tucked near their plates, and there was much exclaiming and admiring over the little  
offerings.

Professor Bhaer sat at the head of the table, where he and Reverend March cheerfully discussed the  
new curriculum for the coming year. At the opposite end of the table, Jo reigned with her boys on  
either side. Rob had grown into a handsome man, and Teddy was still in college and was putting  
on airs that Jo found immensely funny, reminding her of another proud college man from her past.  
Laurie and Amy sat side by side and were still as much in love as ever, and thinking of the dreaded  
day that 'some boy' would come to take their Bess away. Bess and Josie laughed and chattered over the  
newlyweds, and already the rosy cousin was bringing out the 'bloom' in her pale cousins cheek with her  
dramatic speeches from the most romantic theatricals she could call up from memory.

Meg sat next to the happy couple, who only had eyes for each other. A hint of sadness crossed her face  
as she thought of that day, not so very long ago it seemed, that she was the bride, and the wonderful  
years that she had with her beloved John, who would have loved to see this day. Daisy took her  
mother's hand under the table and leaned over to kiss her cheek.

Teddy, glancing at his Aunt Meg, suddenly struck up a rousing tune, to the dismay of the professors.  
Josie joined in, trying to overtop Teddy with her higher tones, until Professor Bhaer signaled Nat to  
take the would-be musicians in hand. Nat stood and, waving their attention to himself, led them all in a  
joyful chorus, his nimble hands sketching time in the air in such a way that even willful Josie let herself  
be guided by them. Daisy and Meg exchanged a loving glance and joined in the singing, as Daisy gazed  
up at her Nat, relishing the happy beginning of their life's journey.

And so I leave you Dear Reader with this small glimpse into the lives of our favorite family.

Merry Christmas!

**Author's Note:**

> For chiana606. I read in your Dear Yuletide letter that you have been living outside the US for several years, so I made the best Christmas story I could think of.
> 
>  
> 
> Many, many thanks and cookies to ElegantPi who is my editor and dearest friend. Without her I wouldn't even know about Yuletide. <3


End file.
